Semi Finalist

Assessment:

Plot: In Crossed by the Stars, prolific award-winning romance writer L.J. Evans introduces readers to Jada Mori, a fabulously wealthy businesswoman haunted by a grueling, loveless past contrived by her rich but distant Japanese family, and Dax Armaud, an old love from a rival family with whom the chemistry is still almost uncontrollable. But even after betrayals and estrangements, Jada’s connection to her family—and particularly her cruel father, leader of the Kyodaina criminal network--puts her in mortal danger and it is Dax who steps in and risks his life to help her survive.

Prose/Style: Evans gives the reader meticulous descriptions of the emotions the main characters experiencing every moment in the present, and through flashbacks, in the past. The style of the prose is typical for the genre, with a heavy emphasis on description. The vocabulary and sentence structure make the novel a fast read.

Originality: This is a contemporary Romeo and Juliet story with a different, happily-ever-after, ending. The author specifies that the novel was “inspired by Imelda May's Falling In Love With You Again.” What makes this an original and interesting story is the transposition of the plot into an entirely new and unlikely setting.

Character Development/Execution: The characters are clearly delineated as the author cleverly adapts from Shakespeare’s version set in Verona, Italy, in the fourteenth century to a contemporary Japanese milieu. Readers learn so much about Jada and Dax now and in the past that we feel they are actual acquaintances, making their happy resolution of their situation even more welcome.

Date Submitted: August 22, 2021